The above image was made with stable diffusion using the prompt 'Work and Personal Notes.'
Saturdays are when I finalize my part of wanttoknow.info's weekly newsletter. Today this work was followed by a meeting about redesigning our website. Tomorrow I'll start coding a first draft of a new home page. The site is overdue for an upgrade, and I'm looking forward to seeing how this all shakes out.
Yesterday, I had coffee with the publisher of a magazine I write for. He was in town from Berlin and we hadn't seen each other since before the pandemic. This old friend invited me to stay in one of his Berlin apartments, and to take on a leadership role with the publication. The job would involve technical and editorial responsibilities, though I'd be free to do many things according to personal preferences.
I told the publisher that I was interested, but that my plate was full through the first part of summer. We're going to keep talking and I'll probably start doing more for the magazine in a few months. It's an interesting opportunity, with an artsy international crowd, and I plan to pursue it in my spare time.
It's nice to feel like my work is valued, though it was a little surprising to hear over coffee that people in Germany have been talking about my writing. It shouldn't have been a surprise. I've been writing every day for many years, so it makes sense that people would eventually begin talking about it. But this development calls into question part of my self image.
For a long time, I've viewed myself as toiling away in obscurity. Like I'm just some guy hunched over a computer in an attic, penning subversive material for a handful of misfits. I'm perfectly comfortable with this view, yet it appears increasingly inaccurate. My work is becoming more collaborative and my audience is growing. I'm still obscure, but less so.
So I'm playing with new ways to see myself, professionally and otherwise. I know that I'm basically competent, and now I'm entertaining the idea that I might also be something more than that. The people I'm working with are world class and I fit right in. And we're definitely doing awesome things together.
Tomorrow would normally be a day off, but this week I'm coding a web page, and I'm looking forward to it. The weather has been rainy and this is a fun project. It involves building from scratch, which I love. And the workflow is nicely collaborative, which I also love.
Elsewhere, things are fine. My personal life is mostly excellent with lots of love. Recently, I revisited the small town I lived in as a teenager. This brought up some old unhappy feelings, but it was also a clear reminder of how far I've come. Far indeed.
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